Aversive images cause less perceptual interference among violent video game players: evidence from emotion-induced blindness

ABSTRACT

Previous research has assessed links between violent video game playing, aggression, and desensitization in the moral domain, but here we find that frequent violent video game play additionally may be linked with differences in perceptual processing. In an emotion-induced blindness task – wherein graphic images typically outcompete and impair perception of targets – violent video game players suffered less perceptual disruption following aversive images than non-players did, despite no group difference following neutral images. This difference persisted when controlling for sex and other violent media consumption and despite no group differences in trait aggression, disgust propensity, or disgust sensitivity. Importantly, the recruitment method ensured that participants were not aware of links between the experiment and their videogame playing history. Although a causal relationship has yet to be established, the findings suggest that violent video game players might sometimes, literally see the world differently.     

2～3岁儿童对视频信息的理解

选取2岁、2．5岁和3岁儿童72名,比较儿童通过窗口、视频和模型三种条件观看藏玩具过程,然后正确找到玩具的表现,考察了2～3岁儿童对视频信息的理解特点。结果表明：（1）与通过直接经验获得信息相比,2岁与2.5岁儿童从视频获得表征信息存有一定困难;3岁儿童能够顺利地从视频获得并运用表征信息。（2）2～3岁儿童在视频条件下获取表征信息的能力要强于模型条件。研究认为3岁前儿童完成将视频图像视为真实物向视为表征信息的转换,双重表征并非儿童将视频图像作为表征信息加以理解的先决条件。     

Tele‐web Psychology in Rural South Australia: The Logistics of Setting Up a Remote University Clinic Staffed by Clinical Psychologists in Training

There is a significant shortage of clinical psychology services in rural and remote Australia. It is proposed that tele‐web psychology may provide one potential solution to this inequity in health provision. A tele‐web psychology project was developed through a partnership between a university and country health service setting in rural South Australia. Tele‐web psychology was conducted by Provisional Psychologists on their first clinical placement, with patients attending sessions in a community mental health team hub in a regional centre north of Adelaide. This article describes the logistics of setting up a collaborative tele‐web psychology service and makes recommendations on how to expedite the success of this type of venture.     

Video games: support for the evolving family therapist

Video games are a growing part of USA and world culture. Gaming may have addictive effects on some gamers and may foster violent thoughts and behaviour in children and adults. Conversely, there are documented positive outcomes from playing video games. Through this growing media, family therapists have a new gateway to better understand the experience of a younger generation of clients. To keep up with a changing client base, family therapists must learn about video games, their contextual impacts, addictive aspects and possible uses in the therapeutic setting while ignoring the myth that all gaming is harmful.     

An integrative review of the person-centred and experiential therapy literature on delivering individual video counselling and psychotherapy

Based on an integrative review of the relevant literature in and on person-centred and experiential (PCE) therapy, this study identifies and discusses the findings of 13 articles on the delivery of individual video counselling and psychotherapy. Six overarching themes were identified: the discrepancy of the experiences of clients and practitioners; the possibility of good-quality PCE therapy (psychotherapy and/or counselling); “doing” PCE therapy online; “being” online; the role of technology; and implications for training and practice. It is suggested that all these have implications for ongoing practice and education/training, and need to be considered by practitioners, educators/trainers, and professional bodies.     

This is your brain on violent video games: Neural desensitization to violence predicts increased aggression following violent video game exposure

Previous research has shown that media violence exposure can cause desensitization to violence, which in theory can increase aggression. However, no study to date has demonstrated this association. In the present experiment, participants played a violent or nonviolent video game, viewed violent and nonviolent photos while their brain activity was measured, and then gave an ostensible opponent unpleasant noise blasts. Participants low in previous exposure to video game violence who played a violent (relative to a nonviolent) game showed a reduction in the P3 component of the event-related brain potential (ERP) to violent images (indicating physiological desensitization), and this brain response mediated the effect of video game content on subsequent aggressive behavior. These data provide the first experimental evidence linking violence desensitization with increased aggression, and show that a neural marker of this process can at least partially account for the causal link between violent game exposure and aggression.     

Establishing verbal repertoires in children with autism using function-based video modeling

Previous research suggests that language-training procedures for children with autism might be enhanced following an assessment of conditions that evoke emerging verbal behavior. The present investigation examined a methodology to teach recognizable mands based on environmental variables known to evoke participants' idiosyncratic communicative responses in the natural environment. An alternating treatments design was used during Experiment 1 to identify the variables that were functionally related to gestures emitted by 4 children with autism. Results showed that gestures functioned as requests for attention for 1 participant and as requests for assistance to obtain a preferred item or event for 3 participants. Video modeling was used during Experiment 2 to compare mand acquisition when video sequences were either related or unrelated to the results of the functional analysis. An alternating treatments within multiple probe design showed that participants repeatedly acquired mands during the function-based condition but not during the nonfunction-based condition. In addition, generalization of the response was observed during the former but not the latter condition.